It is light as meringue and alluring, with all those tidbits about the rich and famous. But, suggests a conservative weekly, one had best beware of "Personality Parade's" allegedly hidden political agenda.

Huh? Politics in "Walter Scott's Personality Parade"?

Perhaps. And, no surprise, the March 4 issue of The Weekly Standard finds liberal bias coursing through the fluff.

"In Walter Scott's Personality Parade, gossip is more than simply entertainment; it's a political weapon," writes Tucker Carlson. "And nobody has benefited more from its use than Bill Clinton."

For example, it notes that in response to a question stemming from rumors of Clinton being a womanizer, the column responded last year: "If there was any hard evidence that the President of the U.S. was womanizing, you can be certain it would have appeared by now in the media."

For sure, one could argue that the response was deftly narrowed to the period Clinton has been president. But not to note his notorious fooling around before then was surely disingenuous.

Carlson cites other examples, such as a Clinton-sympathetic analysis of his 1993 tax increase as being "mostly on the wealthy," and a defense of the expense to taxpayers of Hillary Rodham Clinton's botched, secretive health care reform deliberations.

Further, "Hillary Clinton, who was also the subject of an unprecedented entire issue of Parade, has assumed almost saint-like qualities in the column, appearing again and again as a `highly intelligent and ambitious' woman with `her own impressive credentials.' "

Meanwhile, it argues that the Clintons' critics, such as Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, have fared not nearly as well. Ditto the Bush and Quayle families.

"In 1994 alone, the column threw mud on Newt Gingrich for leaving his first wife, Neil Bush (son of George) for his `ethical lapses' in the banking industry, and Marilyn and Dan Quayle's parents for being part of the `extreme right wing.' "

Of course, some would say each of those assertions was right on the mark.

For three decades the pseudonymous column was done by former Parade editor Lloyd Shearer, whose daughter Brooke and her husband, Strobe Talbott, are both Clinton chums with big jobs in the administration. Brooke Shearer runs the White House Fellows program and Talbott is the second-ranking official at the State Department.

Since 1991 the column has been overseen by Edward Klein, who at different times has run both Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine. "Klein is by all accounts not terribly ideological, more interested in celebrities than politicians. Yet the column spins on unabated."

Maybe. But the column to appear Sunday finds "P.L." of Kennebunkport, Maine, wondering if the Republicans have a beat-Clinton strategy. Soberly, Scott replies that, yes, they will turn his own words against him, showing lots of hypocrisies. "The best strategy will be to let Clinton debate himself."

Quickly: There's a list of 100 favorite conservative movies in March 11 National Review and of the country's supposedly best heart doctors in March Good Housekeeping. . . . Feb. 23.-March 1 Chicago Jewish News' cover story is a lengthy, somewhat ambiguous but still unflattering look at the question of Pat Buchanan's alleged anti-Semitism. . . . There are 200 dog breeds worldwide, March Sports Afield points out, in a "Woof--America's Smartest Dogs" cover, which is less about relative brains than it is a mix of a quickie history of man's earliest believed encounters with dogs, an overview of the role of dogs as hunters, evidence of ongoing change in breeds, and a chart depicting one interpretation of the genealogy of dogs. . . . March 4 U.S. News & World Report is good on the niche-driven state of radio, with success even going to those with merely a 2 percent share of a particular market's audience; for example, by appealing to women ages 25 to 34 with music of artists like Tracy Chapman and Natalie Merchant. . . . March 7 Rolling Stone details how rock groups are conjuring ways to stymie scalpers. Only a few hours in advance, the Smashing Pumpkins announce when and where tickets would be sold. They then limit sales to a pair per person and insist on ID, giving the buyer a voucher with his name and some number from his ID. Upon arriving at the concert, the voucher-holder must have name and ID numbers checked against a master list. As a theater owner says, "I've been doing this for 20 years and, short of DNA testing, it's as close to a fail-safe way of doing it as I've seen." . . . And March 4 Sports Illustrated rates the Bulls' Dennis Rodman as second-best rebounder ever, behind Wilt Chamberlain, ahead of Bill Russell.